The fans at the Nassau Coliseum had plenty to be pleased about last night: A 1-0 Islanders victory, Rick DiPietro’s third shutout of the year and a season-high six-game winning streak.

One thing the fans clearly were not happy about was the return of Chris Simon.

Simon played for the first time last night since being suspended for 30 games in December for stomping an opponent’s foot. And after initially receiving a mixed reaction when he stepped on the ice 2:30 into the opening period, Simon was booed loudly each time he touched the puck during much of the rest of the match against the Lightning.

“I respect that they have their opinion,” said Simon. “I’m gonna work hard on gaining them back.

“I’ve worked hard [during] this time I’ve had away from the game on myself and feel much better now coming back.”

Simon underwent team-mandated counseling before he was allowed to return from the seventh suspension of his career, this one stemming from knocking down and stepping on Pittsburgh’s Jarkko Ruutu with his skate. Ted Nolan, a staunch defender of Simon, hoped that Simon would receive support, and though he said he understood the negative response, he was disappointed.

“They pay their hard-earned money to voice their opinion,” said Nolan, who played Simon for 6:17. “Chris is a big boy. You take the good with the bad and unfortunately our fans chose to do that.”

Despite all of that, the defensively-undermanned Isles still won again (their sixth in a row after losing seven consecutive matches) for their longest streak since 2003. Miro Satan scored on a wrister 5:37 into the third and DiPietro stopped 32 shots.

“It seems this team always, when people have us written off and it just doesn’t look like we’re going to compete anymore, we find a way to win,” DiPietro said after he helped the Isles stay one point out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

And the goalie was happy to have Simon back.

“It’s huge to have a presence like that,” DiPietro said. “He paid the price for actions, did what had to do. He’s back.”

Nolan added that he’s not concerned Simon will hurt the team.

“To me, this is not a distraction, it’s an addition,” Nolan said. “We got one of our players back that did a lot of good things for our hockey team. . . . One thing we want Chris to do is to play an aggressive style. We want him to hit bodies. We want him to be aggressive; he’s always been that.”

Now it’s up to Simon whether he can stay on the ice. Another incident similar to the one in December almost certainly would result in Simon’s banishment from the league.

“I just want to play hockey, play hard and still do my job when it comes to the physical stuff,” Simon said.